#3591: Does this sound like the lwa Baron to you? (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

Baron, the Master of the Cemetery, is one of the most important lwa in the 
Haitian Vodou pantheon.  He is also served in the Makaya tradition, and in 
the secret societies of the Sanpwel.  In fact, he is of particular importance 
to us in the Sanpwel because of his role as a judge.

I have been told that Baron, unlike his children the Ghede lwa, does not use 
obscenities; although I have run across a few that certainly seemed to break 
this rule.  The Ghede lwa do use profanity, liberally!  But their profanity 
is always used humorously, not viciously.  Now, for the self-proclaimed 
"linguists" in the house, on the website of the Philadelphia 
cyber-wannabeMambo, there is a text of a phoney possession by Baron, which 
reads in part as follows:

"...you allow the f*cking laws of the f*cking land to tell you that everybody 
got freedom and you can't bring no f*cking discrimination, they can come into 
your house, your sanctuary and you can't, understand me, there is a f*cking 
law that says there is a f*cking separation between church and state... If 
the lesbians want to f*ck each other, then tell them to go the f*ck on over 
there and f*ck each other..."

I apologize to the list, but I am making a point here. Vodou, I repeat, is of 
great value to Haiti and to Vodouisants, both spiritually and culturally.  
People like the above-quoted fraud are doing just as much harm as those who 
mischaracterize Vodou as "devil worship" and Haitians as "bloodthirsty 
savages".

When President Aristide was in office, he organized several meetings of 
Houngans and Mambos, and he staged a re-enactment of the Bois Caiman 
ceremony.  For this he was criticized in a way that he never would have been 
for organizing meetings of pastors, or re-enacting the passion of Christ.  
Why?  Why, in a Vodouisant-majority country?  Because association with Vodou 
has been used to stigmatize Haitians!

Passages like the one I have quoted above do nothing to lift this stigma.  
And I note that the "Le Peristyle Haitian Sanctuary" does not have even one 
Haitian living in it!  So on the one hand, it is imperative that the Vodou 
religion receive the respect it deserves from non-Vodouisants, and on the 
other hand, it is imperative that charlatans and frauds be unmasked for what 
they are.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra", 
     Good is rare - Haitian Proverb

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